Zacharia leaves White House after 5 days as Trump signals a transition
President Trump said he told Katie Zacharia to reconsider the job, and a White House official confirmed she is 'transitioning' out of the press secretary role. Her five-day run came after a rocky first briefing and renewed scrutiny over her credentials.
ServiceNow CFO says 14-hour days and 4 hours of sleep send a 'terrible example'
U.S. Debt Tops $40.3 Trillion as IMF Says Growth Alone Won't Fix It
Woman pleads guilty in $1.2 billion extortion plot targeting Wes Edens
Diesel hits $6.30 a gallon as grocery shipping costs outrun lettuce
Lumen CEO says uncertainty is pushing boardrooms toward partnerships
Fission Raises $10 Million to Speed Tokenized Fund Exits to 90 Seconds
Trump and Rubio consider firing Guilfoyle amid $100,000 credit card and access allegations
Businessperson of the Week
Read the profile →Hock Tan
Broadcom's chief sounds the alarm on an AI market he is profiting from
Hock Tan is the CEO of Broadcom, which has booked roughly $68 billion in AI semiconductor revenue since late 2023 — making the company one of the biggest financial winners of the AI buildout. Yet this week Tan broke from the industry's triumphalist tone, warning investors are "in a casino," arguing many do not understand what they are actually funding. He identified capital, not chips, as the sector's real constraint going forward.
The Brief
October 17, 2026 →ServiceNow CFO Gina Mastantuono said 14-hour days and 4 hours of sleep send a "terrible example," arguing that recovery belongs inside performance, not outside it. The message matters for companies because leaders set the standard for how far employees think they have to push.
Lumen CEO Kate Johnson said uncertainty in AI and geopolitics is pushing boardrooms toward partnerships. Her point matters because outside allies can help companies allocate capital and move faster when leaders cannot realistically make hard calls alone.
U.S. debt topped $40.3 trillion as Kristalina Georgieva said growth alone will not fix it. That matters for markets and policy because Washington still has to bring down the budget deficit even if stronger growth helps.
Fission raised $10 million to speed tokenized fund exits to 90 seconds. The business case matters because Wall Street's tokenization push still faces a basic problem: investors may get in fast, but getting out can still take months.
The Weekly Edition
Open the edition →Argument and analysis, not a recap
- The Founder's Letter: The Exit Is The Real Test
- Businessperson of the Week
- 4 signed opinion pieces
- The Week, in two pages
Markets & Finance
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36.6% of Americans earning over $500,000 say they live paycheck to paycheck
OpenAI math breakthrough puts cryptography on watch as Bitcoin and banking face a new risk
U.S. private equity deal value falls 14.1% as exits stay thin
Oil Holds at $108.04 as Fuel Costs Keep Taxpayers on the Hook
Business & Corporate
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Supermicro names a new CFO after a $2.5 billion smuggling case and subpoenas
Black says trust lifts engagement 41% as AI reshapes work
Marissa Mayer says AI’s path is still unknowable as Dazzle AI launches with $8 million
CoreWeave’s $35.6 billion debt stack is backed by $103.7 billion in contracts
Politics
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Rare barn owls turn a Manhattan water tower into a first-ever nesting site
JPMorgan blocks outside AI agents as Dimon cites security risks
AmeriCorps says paid service can train workers as youth unemployment hits 5.6%
8 states sue OpenAI over ChatGPT claims that put children at risk
The World
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China’s chip push tests U.S. export controls after 4 years
One in 3 EU founders want out as 45% demand a real single market
Record 69,300 workers left Britain as taxes, healthcare and weather pushed exit wave
McConaughey Read 20 Years of Bad Reviews in the Desert, and Found 'a Point'
Opinion
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Foundation set to train 1,000 private-sector leaders for civic life
AI could strand 18.6 million workers if employers choose automation over skills
Dollarization held Ecuador together for 26 years despite one president's assault
AI firms' self-policing gets a hard look as models keep going rogue
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